Download or read book Thinking Like A Designer Principles and Tools for Effective Web Design written by Sacha Greif and published by Hyperink Inc. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR I have a confession to make: I call myself a designer, but I never went to design school, only worked in a web agency for a couple months, and learned what I know by reading blogs and following along tutorials. I think this is one of the reasons why I love writing and blogging: it gives me a chance to give back and in turn help aspiring designers just like I was helped myself. And I also blog because I want to show that although good design can often feel magical, the process itself isn't: it's just about mastering the basics, and a lot of hard work. If I can do it, I believe you probably can as well. So what you have here is a selection of the most interesting articles I've written over the past couple years. All I hope is that they will help make a long plane ride a little bit shorter, and just maybe give you some new perspectives on design. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK User Experience is a term you hear thrown around a whole lot lately. For some people it means the way a site looks and feels, for others it's all about a site's architecture, but for most of them it's just an empty buzzword that doesn't mean anything at all. User experience is all that and much more. It literally is what users think and feel while using your product. UX Is Everywhere If your site has a painless sign-up process, that's part of the user experience. If your site uses gorgeous photos, that's part of the user experience. If your site is unbearably slow, that's UX too. And if your site is perfect, but there's a bug in your code and you end up charging people twice as much for your product, well guess what, that's also part of their (very bad) user experience. So "user experience design" can include web design, photography, speed optimization, coding, to say nothing of copywriting, branding, security, interaction design, or information architecture. We're All User Experience Designers It logically follows that someone who calls himself a "user experience designers" should be involved in every one of those aspects. But instead, actual "user experience designers" usually come in during the early stages of a project, and use wireframes and prototypes to plan out design, architecture, and interactions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's not a real job. But I feel like it should be called something else, like maybe "Prototype Designer" or "User Experience Consultant" if the person comes in at a later stage to analyze an existing site. In my mind, the title of "User Experience Designer" does not belong to a single person. Instead, it should be embraced by everybody contributing to the project, whether they are a designer, coder, photographer, writer, or systems administrator. Because after all, their work is what ultimately defines the user's experience. "Can You Add More UX to It?" Why is that important at all? Isn't all this just a question of semantics? Well, yes, it is. But bad semantics lead to bad communication, and that in turn leads to bad results. It's not uncommon to hear clients asking if you "do UX" or asking a designer if they "focus on UX." UX soon becomes an empty buzzword that can mean whatever the client wants it to mean. User Experience Professionals have done a great job of promoting UX as a concept. But I feel it's now time that designers reclaim that term and make it clear that "UX" is not a mysterious new idea, but instead part of what every designer does every day. Buy the book to read more! CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction + Introduction + Coders Who Can't Design, Designers Who Can't Code + Does Design Really Matter for Start-Ups? Design Principles + Design Principles + Why There Is No Such Thing as a UX Designer + Usability and the Lowest Common Denominator + Why wireframes can hurt your project. + ...and much more ...and much more

Download or read book Designing Your Life written by Bill Burnett and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Download or read book The Principles of Beautiful Web Design written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Design the Life You Love written by Ayse Birsel and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interactive journal that serves as a joyful, inspirational guide to building the life you've always dreamed of, using the principles and creative process of an award-winning product designer. Life, just like a design problem, is full of constraints -- time, money, age, location, and circumstances. You can’t have everything, so you have to be creative to make what you want and what you need co-exist. Design the Life You Love is a joyful, inspirational guide to building the life you’ve always wanted, using the principles and creative process of an award-winning product designer. Through four steps that reveal hidden skills and wisdom, anyone can design a life they love!

Download or read book Product Design for the Web written by Randy J. Hunt and published by New Riders. This book was released on 2014 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Web designers are no longer just web designers. To create a successful web product that's as large as Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest-or even as small as a tiny app-you need to know more than just HTML and CSS. You need to understand how to create meaningful online experiences so that users want to come back again and again. In other words, you have to stop thinking like a web designer or a visual designer or a UX designer or an interaction designer and start thinking like a product designer. In this breakthrough introduction to modern product design, Etsy Creative Director Randy Hunt explains the skills, processes, types of tools, and recommended workflows for creating world-class web products. After reading this book, you'll have a complete understanding of what product design really is and you'll be equipped with the best practices necessary for building your own successful online products.

Download or read book How Design Makes the World written by and published by Page Two Books, Incorporated. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book CSS in Depth written by Keith Grant and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summary CSS in Depth exposes you to a world of CSS techniques that range from clever to mind-blowing. This instantly useful book is packed with creative examples and powerful best practices that will sharpen your technical skills and inspire your sense of design. Foreword by Chris Coyier, Cofounder of CodePen. Dig even deeper into the secrets of CSS with our video course CSS in Depth in Motion, available exclusively at Manning.com (www.manning.com/livevideo/css-in-depth-​in-motion)! Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Some websites really pop. They look great, they're visually consistent, and they feel interactive and responsive. You can bet their developers knew CSS in depth. CSS specifies everything from the structural layout of page elements to their individual look and feel. True masters know the patterns of CSS development, the techniques to implement them, and the subtle touches that result in beautiful typography, fluid transitions, and balanced graphics. Join them! About the Book CSS in Depth exposes you to a world of CSS techniques that range from clever to mind-blowing. This instantly useful book is packed with creative examples and powerful best practices that will sharpen your technical skills and inspire your sense of design. You'll gain new insights into familiar features like floats and units, and experiment with emerging ideas like responsive design and pattern libraries. Bottom line: this book will make you a better web designer and your apps will look fantastic! What's Inside Avoid common CSS pitfalls Master misunderstood concepts Use flexbox and grid layout Responsive designs for any device Code for reuse and maintainability About the Reader Written for web developers who know the basics of CSS and HTML. About the Author Keith J. Grant is a senior web developer who builds and maintains web applications and websites, including The New York Stock Exchange site. Table of Contents PART 1 - REVIEWING THE FUNDAMENTALS Cascade, specificity, and inheritance Working with relative units Mastering the box model PART 2 - MASTERING LAYOUT Making sense of floats Flexbox Grid layout Positioning and stacking contexts Responsive design PART 3 - CSS AT SCALE Modular CSS Pattern libraries PART 4 - ADVANCED TOPICS Backgrounds, shadows, and blend modes Contrast, color, and spacing Typography Transitions Transforms Animations

Download or read book Smashing UX Design written by Jesmond J. Allen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-05-03 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ultimate guide to UX from the world’s most popular resource for web designers and developers Smashing Magazine is the world′s most popular resource for web designers and developers and with this book the authors provide the ideal resource for mastering User Experience Design (UX). The authors provide an overview of UX and User Centred Design and examine in detail sixteen of the most common UX design and research tools and techniques for your web projects. The authors share their top tips from their collective 30 years of working in UX including: Guides to when and how to use the most appropriate UX research and design techniques such as usability testing, prototyping, wire framing, sketching, information architecture & running workshops How to plan UX projects to suit different budgets, time constraints and business objectives Case studies from real UX projects that explain how particular techniques were used to achieve the client's goals Checklists to help you choose the right UX tools and techniques for the job in hand Typical user and business requirements to consider when designing business critical pages such as homepages, forms, product pages and mobile interfaces as well as explanations of key things to consider when designing for mobile, internationalization and behavioural change. Smashing UX Design is the complete UX reference manual. Treat it as the UX expert on your bookshelf that you can read from cover-to-cover, or to dip into as the need arises, regardless of whether you have 'UX' in your job title or not.

Download or read book Information Architecture written by Christina Wodtke and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web, Second Edition introduces the core concepts of information architecture: organizing web site content so that it can be found, designing website interaction so that it's pleasant to use, and creating an interface that is easy to understand. This book helps designers, project managers, programmers, and other information architecture practitioners avoid costly mistakes by teaching the skills of information architecture swiftly and clearly.

Download or read book The Sciences of the Artificial reissue of the third edition with a new introduction by John Laird written by Herbert A. Simon and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence in the expanded and updated third edition from 1996, with a new introduction by John E. Laird. Herbert Simon's classic and influential The Sciences of the Artificial declares definitively that there can be a science not only of natural phenomena but also of what is artificial. Exploring the commonalities of artificial systems, including economic systems, the business firm, artificial intelligence, complex engineering projects, and social plans, Simon argues that designed systems are a valid field of study, and he proposes a science of design. For this third edition, originally published in 1996, Simon added new material that takes into account advances in cognitive psychology and the science of design while confirming and extending the book's basic thesis: that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. Simon won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1978 for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations and the Turing Award (considered by some the computer science equivalent to the Nobel) with Allen Newell in 1975 for contributions to artificial intelligence, the psychology of human cognition, and list processing. The Sciences of the Artificial distills the essence of Simon's thought accessibly and coherently. This reissue of the third edition makes a pioneering work available to a new audience.

Download or read book Design for Hackers written by David Kadavy and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-08-08 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the techniques behind beautiful design by deconstructing designs to understand them The term 'hacker' has been redefined to consist of anyone who has an insatiable curiosity as to how things work—and how they can try to make them better. This book is aimed at hackers of all skill levels and explains the classical principles and techniques behind beautiful designs by deconstructing those designs in order to understand what makes them so remarkable. Author and designer David Kadavy provides you with the framework for understanding good design and places a special emphasis on interactive mediums. You'll explore color theory, the role of proportion and geometry in design, and the relationship between medium and form. Packed with unique reverse engineering design examples, this book inspires and encourages you to discover and create new beauty in a variety of formats. Breaks down and studies the classical principles and techniques behind the creation of beautiful design Illustrates cultural and contextual considerations in communicating to a specific audience Discusses why design is important, the purpose of design, the various constraints of design, and how today's fonts are designed with the screen in mind Dissects the elements of color, size, scale, proportion, medium, and form Features a unique range of examples, including the graffiti in the ancient city of Pompeii, the lack of the color black in Monet's art, the style and sleekness of the iPhone, and more By the end of this book, you'll be able to apply the featured design principles to your own web designs, mobile apps, or other digital work.

Download or read book Why High tech Products Drive Us Crazy and how to Restore the Sanity written by Alan Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alan Cooper calls for a Software Revolution - his best-selling book now in trade paperback with new foreword and afterword.

Download or read book Don t Make Me Think written by Steve Krug and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2009-08-05 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Five years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it's hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn't read Steve Krug's "instant classic" on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day. In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don't be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design. Three New Chapters! Usability as common courtesy -- Why people really leave Web sites Web Accessibility, CSS, and you -- Making sites usable and accessible Help! My boss wants me to ______. -- Surviving executive design whims "I thought usability was the enemy of design until I read the first edition of this book. Don't Make Me Think! showed me how to put myself in the position of the person who uses my site. After reading it over a couple of hours and putting its ideas to work for the past five years, I can say it has done more to improve my abilities as a Web designer than any other book. In this second edition, Steve Krug adds essential ammunition for those whose bosses, clients, stakeholders, and marketing managers insist on doing the wrong thing. If you design, write, program, own, or manage Web sites, you must read this book." -- Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards

Download or read book Web Design in a Nutshell written by Jennifer Niederst Robbins and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2006-02-21 with total page 829 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you still designing web sites like it's 1999? If so, you're in for a surprise. Since the last edition of this book appeared five years ago, there has been a major climate change with regard to web standards. Designers are no longer using (X)HTML as a design tool, but as a means of defining the meaning and structure of content. Cascading Style Sheets are no longer just something interesting to tinker with, but rather a reliable method for handling all matters of presentation, from fonts and colors to the layout of the entire page. In fact, following the standards is now a mandate of professional web design. Our popular reference, Web Design in a Nutshell, is one of the first books to capture this new web landscape with an edition that's been completely rewritten and expanded to reflect the state of the art. In addition to being an authoritative reference for (X)HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, this book also provides an overview of the unique requirements of designing for the Web and gets to the nitty-gritty of JavaScript and DOM Scripting, web graphics optimization, and multimedia production. It is an indispensable tool for web designers and developers of all levels. The third edition covers these contemporary web design topics: Structural layer: HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 (9 chapters), including an alphabetical reference of all elements, attributes and character entities Presentation layer: Ten all-new chapters on Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1, including an alphabetical reference of all properties and values. Behavior layer: JavaScript and scripting with the Document Object Model (DOM) Web environment: New web standards, browsers, display devices, accessibility, and internationalization Web graphics optimization: Producing lean and mean GIF, JPEG, PNG, and animated GIFs Multimedia: Web audio, video, Flash, and PDF Organized so that readers can find answers quickly, Web Design in a Nutshell, Third Edition helps experienced designers come up to speed quickly on standards-based web design, and serves as a quick reference for those already familiar with the new standards and technology. There are many books for web designers, but none that address such a wide variety of topics. Find out why nearly half a million buyers have made this the most popular web design book available.

Download or read book Neuro Web Design written by Susan Weinschenk and published by Peachpit Press. This book was released on 2009-03-30 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “While you’re reading Neuro Web Design, you’ll probably find yourself thinking ‘I already knew that…’ a lot. But when you’re finished, you’ll discover that your ability to create effective web sites has mysteriously improved. A brilliant idea for a book, and very nicely done.” – Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Why do people decide to buy a product online? Register at your Web site? Trust the information you provide? Neuro Web Design applies the research on motivation, decision making, and neuroscience to the design of Web sites. You will learn the unconscious reasons for people’s actions, how emotions affect decisions, and how to apply the principles of persuasion to design Web sites that encourage users to click. Neuro Web Design employs “neuro-marketing” concepts, which are at the intersection of psychology and user experience. It’s scientific, yet you’ll find it accessible, easy to read, and easy to understand. By applying the concepts and examples in this book, you’ll be able to dramatically increase the effectiveness and conversion rates of your own Web site.

Download or read book 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People written by Susan Weinschenk and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2011-04-14 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With it you’ll be able to design more intuitive and engaging work for print, websites, applications, and products that matches the way people think, work, and play. Learn to increase the effectiveness, conversion rates, and usability of your own design projects by finding the answers to questions such as: What grabs and holds attention on a page or screen? What makes memories stick? What is more important, peripheral or central vision? How can you predict the types of errors that people will make? What is the limit to someone’s social circle? How do you motivate people to continue on to (the next step? What line length for text is best? Are some fonts better than others? These are just a few of the questions that the book answers in its deep-dive exploration of what makes people tick.

Download or read book Hello Web Design written by Tracy Osborn and published by No Starch Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book democratizes web development for everyone. It's a fun, clever guide that covers all of the key design principles, best practices, useful shortcuts, pro tips, real-world examples, and basic coding tutorials needed to produce a beautiful website that you'll feel confident sharing with the world. Because you, too, can design for the web! Hello Web Design contains everything you need to feel comfortable doing your own web development, including an abundance of real-life website examples that will inspire and motivate you. No need to spend time and money hiring an expensive graphic designer; this book will walk you through the fundamentals - and shortcuts - you need to do it all yourself, right now.